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Yes You Can! What Drake, Sports Movies & 94 year-old Track Stars Know About Battling Complacency
Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 11:54PM “You can still do what you want to do. You gotta trust that shit!” – Drake in ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha)
Drake performing "Too Much" from his album NOTHING WAS THE SAME on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.Lyrics in rapper Drake’s song titled ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha) remind me of how we tend to live life on autopilot – not necessarily complaining but not really enjoying our days on earth either. It’s as if we’re just going through the motions and basically waiting to die. It’s a said reality that also has me thinking of Benjamin Franklin’s quote about how most people die at 25 but are buried at 75.
The more I learn about American history and that of the world at large, the more I start to think that people from generations past seem to be much more resilient and ambitious than those of us living in today’s time, despite the fact that they had less resources than the luxuries we enjoy now. What happened to modern-day women and men? Why are so many of us quick and content to just throw our hands up and be asleep at the wheel on the highway of life? I recently watched a TV news report about a 94 year-old man named George ‘Scotty’ Scott, competing in the Penn Relays – the longest running race in the world. He ran with men and women between 75 and 98 years-old!
When the newscaster interviewed George following the Master’s Men’s 75+ 100m dash, he said “I just do the best I can.” Chances are, however, that only a few among the rest of us go to bed every night with the same amount of satisfaction for how we spent our day. Complacency is a choice that prevents far too many people from living up to their full potential. Each day we are lucky to receive on this earth is an opportunity for us to create the kind of lives that we can look back on and smile.
Hilary Swank as Maggie in MILLION DOLLAR BABY.If you ever feel like you’re stuck on a bumpy road that doesn’t line up with your abilities, values and passions, know that you don’t have to sit back, grin and bear it. Anything in life is possible if you believe in yourself enough to try.
That goes for aspirations big and small across the board such as traveling, home ownership, starting a family, landing some type of dream gig, fitness training, healthy eating, learning sign language, teaching Yoga or whatever floats your boat. An underprivileged waitress named Maggie believed that, with the proper training, she could become one of the world’s most boxing champs, in the sport drama film Million Dollar Baby starring Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood. Despite having no moral support from home – even being ridiculed by her own mother – Maggie still put her best foot forward.
A teenage boy named Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger pushed himself to the limits in the pursuit of playing football for Notre Dame, in the biographical drama Rudy starring Sean Astin and Jon Favreau. He was too short and surrounded by people who had very little expectations of him and of themselves, yet, that this not deter him from shooting for the moon. Maggie and Rudy share the common thread that is an unrelenting quest for all that life has to offer beyond the limitations that society and/or their circumstances place on them. Deep down, they trusted themselves in having what it takes to give life their best shot.
Y is for YouAlthough the results of Maggie’s and Rudy’s efforts may not have turned out exactly as these two bold characters had in mind, they still preferred these journeys over the alternative of growing old with regrets, wondering what could have been. Drake wasn’t lying – you CAN do what you want, go where you want and be who you want in life. Just like those 90 year-olds at the Penn Relays, Maggie in Million Dollar Baby and the main character in Rudy, you just have to trust that you have what it takes and then do your very best to make that happen.
Does watching sports movies motivate YOU in any way?
Are YOU the master of your own destiny?
Reader Comments (1)
Although there are some things in life that I have to accept I can't control (I can't make every person in the world buy my books lol!), what I can control, I try and do. I write for love and for hoping that maybe one day my writing can be more. I'll keep working at the craft of writing, sharing and publishing. It feels good knowing I'm doing something I enjoy and I'll have no regrets since I'm not allowing my writing passion to become a dream-ignored.